So just as a matter of arithmetic, fairly soon after that date there would have to be significant cuts in Social Security, Medicare, military pay or some combination of those in order to avoid borrowing more money.
Bernanke explains the potential need for significant cuts to essential programs if the debt ceiling is not raised.
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Finding a way to deal with that issue I think is the most challenging part but has the biggest payoff.
Large deficits in debt over a long period of time raise interest rates above levels where they normally would be and crowd out private investment and are bad for growth and productivity.
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